VEREENIGING. – The communities of Rus-Ter-Vaal and Roshnee have given the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) Mayor Sipho Radebe a few days to come up with a solution to end their electricity woes.
This is after both communities experienced power blackouts for days on end with no explanation as to what the problem is from ELM.
To show their frustration, communities took to the streets and barricaded the R82 with burning tires, trees, and rocks on Monday and Tuesday (29 and 30 May).
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster on Tuesday afternoon, Ward 16 community leader Ranleigh Pitt said: “We are here because we experience blackouts after load-shedding. We’ve had power for the day but we need a permanent solution to the problem, that is why we are not moving until the Mayor gets here.
“We want the ELM to tell us how they are going to mitigate the problem of overloading because every time when the power comes back it only stays on for a few minutes and goes off again. Long-term, we want to know if the municipality will upgrade our substation as it currently does not have enough capacity for the entire community.”
Another community Leader, Riaz Choonara said both communities are speaking as one. Choonara asked the mayor to also fix the matter of irregular load-shedding in the two areas. He stated that areas such as Waldrift and Arcon Park were not getting the same amount of
load-shedding as Roshnee and Rus-Ter-Vaal. He said that the lives of people that live on oxygen in the areas are at stake as a result of the blackouts.
Choonara handed over a memorandum with a list of demands to the mayor.
Both communities say should they not get a response from the Mayor, they will be forced to escalate the matter to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
Addressing the communities on Tuesday evening, Radebe explained he was in a council sitting.
“I could not be here earlier as I was in a meeting to pass the budget. I was alerted earlier this morning regarding the problem you are facing with electricity. I will have to consult with the relevant department and find out what it is that we are dealing with before I can come back to you.”
Radebe said he will come back to the community in a few days. Currently, the R82 is open.
